50th Four-Ball Stroke Play Championship

Raven’s Claw duo gets playoff redemption

MT. LAUREL, N.J. — A playoff didn’t submarine John Foley and Curtis Geiger this time.

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The Raven’s Claw Golf Club members captured the 50^th Four-Ball Stroke Play Championship at Laurel Creek Country Club (par 70, 5,946 yards) Monday. Foley and Geiger, as well as the team of Stephen Cerbara and Liam Hart, finished regulation tied at 7-under-par 63.

However, Cerbara and Hart were unavailable for the sudden-death playoff. Overtime finally favored their 7-under counterparts.

In May, Foley and Geiger fell in a five-team playoff for the Philadelphia Publinks GA Better-Ball Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Course. This past weekend, they bowed in a three-team playoff for the Donald Ross Better-Ball Championship at Jeffersonville Golf Club.

“We’ve been close,” Geiger, 35, of Pottstown, Pa., said. “I was excited [to learn] that a playoff wasn’t going to be a match of cards. We wanted another chance. Obviously, it’s a different atmosphere when it’s just you and another team. It feels good to finally win.”

“We’re always right there, even when we’re not playing the best golf. We always find a way to get to the number that’s needed,” Foley, 24, of Limerick, Pa., added. “We saw that there was a team at 8 under, and we were at 5 under [at the time]. We didn’t really think we really had a shot. We just tried to get into the Top 3.”

The top trophy is a nice substitute.

Starting on the back nine, Foley used his 9-iron to set up birdie conversions of 20 and 30 feet, respectively, on Nos. 12 (par 4, 412 yards) and 13 (par 4, 358 yards). He canned an eight-footer on the par 3, 138-yard 14^th hole following a crisp 50-degree wedge. That stretch figuratively sprinted with Geiger’s birdie baton. He drained an 18-footer on No. 11 (par 4, 375 yards) after hitting a pitching wedge from 150 yards. A three-putt bogey by Geiger on No. 18 (par 4, 402 yards) “took the wind out our sails.”

“We were hitting good shots. Then he got us home by making a bunch of putts coming in, so that was nice,” Geiger, who works in the Raven’s Claw pro shop, said.

And essential. Foley birdied four of the team’s final five holes. He made a three-footer on No. 5 (par 5, 478 yards) after landing a 4-iron greenside right. Foley knocked a 50-degree wedge 124 yards to 10 feet above the No. 6 (par 4, 396 yards) flagstick. After wisely navigating the dogleg left No. 8 (par 4, 311 yards), he lifted a lob wedge 85 yards to five feet. A two-putt birdie from 23 feet on No. 9 (par 5, 501 yards) elevated his team to the top of the leaderboard.

“He made seven birdies today, but he’ll probably tell you he wasn’t on his ‘A’ game,” Geiger, the reigning Philadelphia Publinks GA Player of the Year, jested.

Foley and Geiger met five years ago at Raven’s Claw. The two struck up a friendship, but golf opportunities therin ran on borrowed time. Foley spent the past two years working as a caddie at Sand Valley Golf Resort in Nekoosa, Wisc. He returned home earlier this year and now works for his dad’s electrical company.

A golf reconnection with Geiger at Raven’s Claw, and a golf team that’s trending upward.

“There are a lot of people who want to play golf with Curt. To get the invite is pretty special,” Foley said. “He’s at Raven’s Claw six days a week pretty much. So anytime you want to show up and hit golf balls or chip and putt around the green, Curt is there.”

GAP
Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The Association’s 300 Member Clubs and 80,000 individual members are spread across the Eastern half of Pennsylvania and parts of Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.